53: Chapter 53 The Cicada Awaits

The valley was quiet, gloomy, and terrifyingly silent, without even the chirping of insects.

A gravel path wound its way inside. Wooden posts stood along the roadside, topped with bronze covers that were likely meant to serve as street lamps, though they had long since gone out.

Su Jiuchuan was highly tense. Although he had already run the simulation, in a desolate wilderness like this, it was hard to say that no accidents would happen.

He had already seen several corpses along this road. Upon closer inspection, most of their heads had been smashed to pieces, showing just how brutal the monster was.

Soon, he reached the entrance of the mine—a pitch-black opening that sloped downward.

Su Jiuchuan held his long saber horizontally in front of him and slowly walked inside.

It was indeed very dark here, but for a First-grade Martial Artist, it was no longer an obstacle.

A foul, musky stench filled the air. Su Jiuchuan frowned; ancient technology was lacking, and the ventilation was terrible.

Advancing a few more steps, he quickly discovered several collapsed areas, with the stone wall on one side shattered for several meters. He carefully examined the collapse; the ground was covered in fine dust without a single piece of gravel, showing just how immense the force used had been.

"Hmm? What is this?"

A dark gold hair lay mixed on the ground. Su Jiuchuan picked it up and found that it was surprisingly heavy, not much lighter than a steel needle of the same size.

As he was looking closely, Su Jiuchuan suddenly felt the musky stench in the air grow stronger. A gust of fierce wind rushed toward the back of his head, and he threw himself into a roll on the ground.

With a loud bang, a massive claw swiped down at the spot where he had just been standing.

Su Jiuchuan felt a burning pain in his back. He had actually been grazed, and a thick liquid seemed to be trickling down. He knew he was injured, but he couldn't afford to worry about that now.

A massive monster appeared before him, with a sharp chin and monkey-like cheeks. Its body was at least twice his size. This must be the ape Squire Wang had spoken of.

"Roar!" The Ape Monster roared, and then a massive, furry fist smashed down violently.

Su Jiuchuan instantly felt as if the entire air had solidified. The sheer pressure gave him an inescapable feeling. He quickly composed himself and retreated in a hurry.

With another loud bang, a deep crater several zhang deep was smashed directly into the ground.

If he had been hit by that, Su Jiuchuan would probably have been turned directly into meat paste. Was this the power of a Xiantian Realm monster?

Su Jiuchuan knew he couldn't keep this up forever, so he slashed out with his black blade.

Clang! The slash struck the Ape Monster's fist, making a metallic clanging sound and drawing a few drops of bright red blood.

"Roar!" The Ape Monster was enraged. It leaped forward, throwing both fists out to smash him again.

Su Jiuchuan sidestepped, barely dodging between the two fists. In his hurried evasion, he happened to spot a deep wound on the Ape Monster's waist. However, the blood had already coagulated into a dark red color, suggesting it hadn't happened too long ago.

This monster was indeed injured.

Seizing the split second as he crossed paths with the Ape Monster, Su Jiuchuan slashed out a phantom image of the black blade, striking right on the wound.

"Roar!"

A heart-wrenching roar echoed through the mine. The Ape Monster was completely enraged. It looked down at its wound, from which blood was now gushing out. A surge of rage filled its chest, and its gaze toward Su Jiuchuan was filled with overwhelming murderous intent.

It roared toward the heavens, then leaped violently with both fists raised. This time, its speed was incredibly fast, and a faint golden light actually seemed to condense on its fists.

Su Jiuchuan knew he couldn't dodge this blow. The True Qi in his body circulated frantically, and the Protective Aura on the black blade in his hand grew incredibly dense as he rushed toward the Ape Monster.

With a loud bang, the cave shook violently, and dust and sand fell from the stone walls.

Su Jiuchuan was knocked flying over ten meters and crashed to the ground. His entire body felt as if his bones were broken, aching everywhere. The True Qi in his body had been completely released in that last clash, and now he couldn't muster even a single shred of True Qi in his Meridians.

The Ape Monster was not doing any better. A blade scar ran from its left shoulder all the way to its right, spraying blood all over the ground. Its eyes had dimmed considerably, but its murderous intent grew even more intense.

It had suffered injury upon injury and lost a lot of blood, but as long as it had a moment to stop the bleeding, it would definitely tear the human before it to shreds.

"Hahaha!"

Just then, a wild laugh echoed in the cave, and a figure walked out from the darkness.

It was a white-haired old man with a dark gold complexion, clearly also injured. However, sensing the unfathomable aura radiating from him, Su Jiuchuan's heart tightened. He was indeed a Xiantian Martial Artist.

Looking at Su Jiuchuan, who was slumped on the ground and unable to move, and then at the bleeding, fierce-eyed Ape Monster, the old man couldn't help but smile as he stroked his gray beard. He chuckled, "It seems I've arrived just in time."

"You... what is your relationship with Squire Wang?"

The old man looked at Su Jiuchuan and smiled, saying, "It seems you understand now? Unfortunately, it's a bit too late. Haha, this old man is Wang Chenghu, the ancestor of the Squire Wang you spoke of, haha."

"Did you purposely have me wear down the Ape Monster's strength?" Su Jiuchuan asked the question in his heart.

Wang Chenghu was in no hurry. He nodded and said, "Not exactly. This old man already fought this beast once before. If we hadn't both ended up injured, do you think you could have survived under this Innate monster's skill—Ape Might, just now?"

So that strike just now was indeed the monster's skill. Could the difference between Innate monsters and ordinary monsters lie here? Ordinary monsters rely on animal instinct, while Innate monsters have already awakened their Innate talent skills?

"Vile beast, trying to run?"

The Ape Monster was incredibly cunning. Seeing Wang Chenghu appear, it immediately knew things were bad. Watching the two talk, it suddenly turned around to flee, but was noticed instantly.

Wang Chenghu drew his longsword, leaped up, and shot toward the Ape Monster.

The Ape Monster also knew it couldn't escape this time. A trace of sorrow appeared in its eyes, which quickly turned into a chest full of rage. It activated its Innate talent skill—Ape Might once again, and its fists glowed with a dark gold luster once more.

However, this move also caused even more blood to flow from the wounds on its body.

Bang!

Wang Chenghu raised his hand to meet the punch head-on, while his longsword pierced into the wound on the Ape Monster's waist. With a sudden surge of force, the Ape Monster's internal organs were shredded, its life force extinguished, and it crashed to the ground.

Cough, cough! He also spat out a mouthful of blood. Clearly, that clash just now had left him with no light injuries either.

"Hahaha!" Wang Chenghu couldn't help but laugh out loud, saying, "This is an Innate monster! Tsk tsk, to think that at my age, I would still have such an Opportunity."

After saying that, he ignored Su Jiuchuan, used his sword to dig open the Ape Monster's chest, pulled out a translucent, stone-like object, and placed it in his breast pocket.

Having done all this, he was somewhat exhausted, yet he still turned around, preparing to kill Su Jiuchuan first. This person knew too much.

But as soon as he turned around, he saw Su Jiuchuan standing there completely at ease, smiling faintly at him, with not a single trace of having exhausted his True Qi.